


First Impressions (Could be Worst Impressions)

by Jrade



Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Also background lesbians because everything's better with more gays, Bad Pick-Up Lines, Canon Lesbian Relationship, F/F, First Meetings, Fluff, Lena's a dork and Emily is a little shameless, Pick-Up Lines, Puns & Word Play, Shameless Emily, Silly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 17:00:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29779290
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jrade/pseuds/Jrade
Summary: An old man tries to murder Tracer with coupons in a grocery store (or at least, that's what he's doing if you ask her). Luckily for her, the cashier is incredibly attractive. Unluckily for her, she's a little useless around attractive girls. Not the first time she's had to just scramble and fly by the seat of her pants, though - and who doesn't love puns? Right? Right?(The story of Emily and Tracer's first meeting)
Relationships: Emily/Lena "Tracer" Oxton
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15
Collections: The Underwatch-verse





	First Impressions (Could be Worst Impressions)

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this originally for [No Angst November](https://archiveofourown.org/works/12567276/chapters/28623828), which was a collection done in conjunction with a bunch of other (quite awesome) writers here, a bunch of random prompts with the idea of turning out a fic every day. I decided to re-post some of my things from that, just because some of them (like this one) actually tie into other works, and I can more easily link to them this way. They're also all getting a fresh edit with some trimming, some re-working, and some additions, depending. Hope you enjoy!
> 
> The prompt that inspired this one was "Cheesy Pickup Lines".

Lena took a deep breath and let it out slowly, holding it back from being a scream or a shout. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. This old man was trying to kill her, and she thought it was probably going to work. She couldn’t hold out much longer and she knew it - this was it. The day she would perish. The last day of her life.

He was intentionally taking  _ forever _ with these coupons because he wanted her to die.

One foot started to tap, restlessly, as she crossed her arms. She’d already read every headline on the tabloids and tried to come up with silly rhymes for every pack of gum on the little impulse rack behind the conveyor belt (her personal favourite was Cheermint).

The man moved, at least - forward a bit to lean around the counter and tap one of his fingers at the screen for  _ some _ reason - and Lena took the half a step forward that it afforded her with a sigh because it felt like  _ some _ progress at least.

The sigh abruptly ended, catching between her teeth as her jaw clamped shut and she swore she felt the Chronal Accelerator skip a cycle beneath her leather jacket. She wasn’t in her full gear right now, obviously, but she still needed that harness; it was just buried beneath a leather half-trenchcoat.

Not that she was thinking about her outfit, except then she was suddenly and  _ intensely _ thinking about her outfit, because that was the instant she realized that one of the hottest and most beautiful women she’d ever been lucky enough to see, was behind the cash register.

The redhead leaned forward, waving a delicate hand and smiling softly as she attempted to communicate to the old man for the twentieth time that his eight-months-out-of-date coupon for a different brand of product at a different chain of grocery stores in a different country couldn’t be accepted here. The freckles on her cheeks stood out in the fluorescent light as she nodded, coppery hair cascading over her shoulders as she took his cash card; Lena couldn’t help but watch the way she moved as she turned and waved goodbye to the departing customer, and then as the woman turned back and met her eyes with a smile, Lena thought she might just melt into the ground.

It was such a perfect moment. They were so clearly meant to be together - Lena could see it in her eyes. One of her ginger eyebrows raised a little, and Lena quirked one in return, smirking a little lopsidedly, the cashier laughed lightly and waved. Lena waved back.

Then, realized that the cashier wasn’t just waving, she was waving her  _ forward _ to pay for her things because Lena was now the first person in line. Coupon man had left.

Her eyes widened a little as she stepped forward and started patting at her jacket, trying to find her wallet. “Ha, sorry, I uh-”  _ how did I not already have it in my hands I was waiting for eight years while he-  _ “-just got to get my um, uh,” Lena cut off into a nervous laugh.

The cashier joined in, her own laugh bright and full as she tossed her head back and the sound leapt right into Lena’s heart. The cashier grinned widely, teeth and eyes sparkling and separated only by those gorgeous freckles. “You’ve got a goofy smile,” the redhead grinned, “and a cute laugh. Don’t worry, love, take your time - we’re in no rush here!”

Another slightly less nervous laugh bubbled out of Lena’s lips, and she managed to find her wallet in just that moment. With the joke, with the laugh, it felt a lot less awkward and she got to just enjoy the radiant beauty across from her.

It didn’t seem like she recognized the outfit or the face, and that meant a lot in either direction; some people  _ loved _ the media personality that had been made of “Tracer” and some people hated her, and Lena did her best to avoid comparisons for the most part. She pulled on hats or wore different clothes, sometimes even wore coloured contacts or sprayed her hair a different shade, and sometimes it was enough. Some people saw through it though, and even when she was just trying to be Lena, all they saw was Tracer.

It wasn’t an awful thing. It wasn’t even usually  _ that _ bad a thing, but it also could cause problems. At the very least it tended to derail things, even when positive.

“So, come here often?” Lena rested her elbows on the little plank that was provided for people to write cheques - as if  _ anybody _ still used cheques - and was rewarded with a bright laugh from the redhead.

“Mm, every now and again,” she smirked, swiping a tin of beans through the scanner and showing off just the slightest hint of a dimple in her cheeks. Lena thought maybe she was imagining it - maybe she was imagining all of it, but there was only one way to know for sure.

_ What’s the worst that could happen? _ Lena felt a little anxiety rising in her gullet.  _ She laughs? That wouldn’t be so bad - she’s got a nice laugh! No, the worst thing that would happen would be… bad. Bad things. But it probably won’t. You’re great. She’s way, way out of your league and you’ve got no chance in hell. _

_ If you’re gonna go out… at least go out big. _

“Sooo,” she shrugged slowly, taking a deep breath to steady her rushing heart. She tipped her head to the side, peeked around the screen, and glanced at the cashier’s name, “Emily - nice name! Anyway, I was wondering, do you ever get hungry?”

Emily looked up in soft confusion, head tipped to the side, eyebrow raised, slightly crooked grin that lit up her whole face and Lena couldn’t help but return. “Hungry? Yeah, um,” she laughed briefly, “sometimes? Why?”

“Great!” Lena patted her hands on the little cheque-plank with a broad and triumphant grin. “In that case, you should let me take you out to dinner and  _ I _ can return the favour by checking  _ you _ out!” She threw in a wink and a finger-gun as she held out her card, timing it for the last item - a six-pack of dinner rolls - being scanned.

There was a beat of total silence, Emily staring back into her eyes and holding the bag of buns before bursting into laughter violent enough that she had to support herself on the register. “Did- did you-” she could barely speak through the laughter, “did you  _ really _ just say that?”

Lena cleared her throat, looking down at herself and shrugging. “Well, I’ve still got my trousers on so this can’t be that awful nightmare I have sometimes,” she chuckled and flashed the cutest cashier she’d ever met another broad and shameless grin, “and I’m still wearing my shirt so it can’t be that lovely dream I have sometimes, either, so yeah I must’ve really said it!”

Emily covered her mouth with a hand, laughing hard enough that a tear or two glistened on her freckled cheeks - she snorted with laughter, barely able to breathe, and Lena only grinned wider and wider as she did.

_ If you’re gonna go out, at least go out big! _ No point jumping in unless you were going to jump in with both feet.

After a moment or two, Emily got herself under control, giggling and waving a hand to forestall any further comments. “S-sorry! Sorry, I just-” she took a breath and sighed half of it out, chuckling again. “That- that sounds absolutely lovely, yeah!”

Lena’s eyes widened. “Wait. That  _ worked?” _

Emily took her card with a smirk and swiped it past the reader. “That and your smile and your laugh, yeah. I’d been wondering if I could ask out a customer ever since I saw you get in line! Not exactly good form, you know.”

“Pfft,” Lena waved a hand dismissively, “your form’s great! I mean, not that I was looking, but I did kinda look.” She cleared her throat as a little heat rose to her cheeks and carried on talking over Emily’s slight giggle. “Anyway, what time d’you get off?”

“Between seven and seven-thirty, every night,” the redhead nodded, handing Lena’s card back - and the way her fingers brushed against Lena’s hand couldn’t have been accidental. She couldn’t have imagined that, or the way that Emily’s eyes narrowed a little bit, her smile shifted. “Like clockwork. But my shift ends at five.”

Lena stared back into those gorgeous eyes and was pretty sure her heart had forgotten how to beat, and words were really hard sometimes, but Emily had just said several and they slowly filtered through Lena’s brain.

As she realized what Emily had said, she  _ also _ realized that they were still making eye contact and still touching hands, and her cheeks burned with a sudden and furious blush. “Wh-m, nuuh? Imnuh uh-” she cleared her throat as Emily giggled delightedly.

“You’re cute when you blush,” she winked and handed over the bag of groceries. “So I’ll see you at five, yeah?”

“To hell with that, I am never leaving this grocery again,” Lena gushed through a grin and was rewarded once again with a bright laugh.

Unseen and unheard in line behind her, two old women muttered softly to each other.

“Think it’s a bloody waste of time I do, Agnes,” one grumbled.

“Oh hush,” Agnes retorted with a soft and husky laugh, tapping the first on the nose with a hand that trembled slightly. “You remember what it was like being young!”

“I didn’t hold up lines at the grocery,” the first old lady muttered. “I’ll tell you that - never in my life did I-”

“Aisling,” Agnes hummed, patting her partner on the hand, “dear, when you proposed, you shut down Leicester square  _ for an hour. _ ”

“Was already shut down,” Aisling retorted with a huff, crossing her arms. “Traffic’s a bloody state, it is, and I’ll tell you another thing-”

“Of course dear but let’s pay for our groceries first.” Agnes waved a shaky hand as the chipper young brunette exited the store, leaving the now-giggly redheaded cashier to turn her attention toward them.

“Sorry about that delay,” Emily smiled, shaking her head a little, “I hope it wasn’t too inconvenient?”

“Of course not, dearie,” Agnes reassured her with a pat on the hand which brightened Emily’s smile by a degree or two.

“Don’t see the bloody fuss anyway,” Aisling grumbled, arms still crossed. Agnes sighed, rolled her eyes, and reached over with shaky hands, lifting the glasses that hung by a cord from the other woman’s neck and resting them gently on the bridge of her nose.

Aisling frowned, readjusted the glasses which sat askew, leaned forward, peered and Emily, and then huffed. “Oh. Fine. So she’s cute.”

“Yes she is, dear,” Agnes laughed lightly to her partner as Emily giggled.  _ “That’s _ what the fuss is about. Now,” Agnes turned back to Emily with a smile, drawing a leaflet out of her handbag, “I have a few coupons here…”

\---

Outside of the grocery store, Lena sat, slumped to the ground, grinning up at the sky like a total idiot. Largely because she felt entirely  _ like _ a total idiot, but she didn’t care in the slightest. She was a total idiot whose total idiocy had earned her a totally unexpected date with a totally cute redhead, and life was excellent.

She let out a laugh at the bright sky and checked her watch. 3:57. She had plenty of time to zip home. Five o’clock couldn’t roll around soon enough...

**Author's Note:**

> I just love shameless Emily, I just do - I am a weak gay and I love it, is that so wrong?
> 
> So, I like this, I think it's cute - it's pretty much just a silly little thing but I hope it brings a few smiles into the world, and honestly I feel like this is a time that some more smiles could be very helpful. This is officially the first meeting story for these two out of my longer work [Both Sides Now](https://archiveofourown.org/works/11077395) (and the whole extended thing it's spawned, which I will be updating) - so if you like this kinda feel between these two and you want more, go give that a shot. It's about a half-million words and gets followed (and will get further followed) by more; not solely Lena/Emily, but plenty of them, and some fun additions and others that I quite like too.
> 
> I like my background characters? Not just here but elsewhere, I just like how I write them - I hope it doesn't come across as disorienting, because I deliberately try to just drop them in. I don't spend time explaining little stuff or trying to link them in to other things (necessarily) but I also usually do write as if there _are_ those links in place - here, for instance, I don't give names and descriptions for Aisling and Agnes up front. I just start writing them in situ, and let the names and what descriptors are important arise as the story flows; I realize that this style of getting dropped into things mid-flow rather than gently introduced to them could be disorienting, but I hope it's not. I try to limit it to background characters alone in order to avoid that. I just feel like it gives more depth to the story? Am I going to go write the story of Aisling and Agnes' proposal, shutting down traffic in Liecester square for an hour? No, no I am not! Will I ever give more details about it? Unlikely. Do I _even know_ more details about it? Not really! I could make them up if needed but that's the thing: it's not really important. So, yes, I realize that I'm referencing unexplained events, but I hope it comes across as the sort of... I don't know, plot set-dressing that it is. Or greebling, plot greebling - I like that as a term (greebles are any little pointless bits and bobs added to something like a movie set or model to give extra detail without really adding anything; it's a term originating from I think C-3PO and the original Star Wars? [More info, if desired [Wikipedia entry:Greeble]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greeble)). Anyway, I like it, but I also understand if it makes things bewildering - if you think you need to hold on to those details and juggle them alongside everything else - and I apologize if that's the case for you.
> 
> Well, folks, I hope you like this! Hope it brought a little smile or chuckle, or both - let me know either way, and I'm gonna be trying to continue to polish things off and get them uploaded. I've got probably about 100k words of stuff I want to re-upload from various collections, then about the same amount that I've written but never uploaded in the first place - starts of series, one-shots, things for zines, other bits and bobs. Then of course there's new writing incoming as well, the aforementioned BSN getting its Act II finally! Not sure when all these things will be happening exactly because work is quite busy right now and we're trying to buy a house as well (me, my wife, and our girlfriend) - wish us luck on those fronts I guess, but suffice to say I'll be poking around at it at least and once we're settled somewhere I should be able to up production pretty well!
> 
> Until next time, folks!


End file.
